Almost a week after they’d first arrived at the University of East Saffron, it was finally time. She’d known it was coming— the specter of it, inevitable over their every interaction, each and every moment only ever more tainted with the coming of it— but now that it was finally here…

  The morning felt just like any other morning. Wake up, make breakfast, chat with Avyr and pretend that everything was normal and they weren’t about to go to the most important function of their entire lives to date… but that was the last bit of normality they got. The first thing were the uniforms. The University of East Saffron, by and large, did not have any official uniform. It wasn’t like the sect in that respect— most students would just come to class wearing whatever they wanted. That, Lily had been pretty sure of… but, as it happened, they weren’t normal students. Overnight, someone had left two neatly wrapped packages on their doorstep, alongside a note that explained that they’d need to wear their uniforms to the Initiation Ceremony.

  Lily ran a hand along the package’s cloth, faintly marveling at the smooth texture of it… and that they were using such good cloth for packaging. If they were delivering them their uniforms wrapped in fine silk, then what were the uniforms made out of. If the way that Avyr was staring at the packages was any indication, then she had a pretty good idea…

  She unfolded hers, unfurling the robe— because it couldn’t really be called anything else— and letting it catch the early morning sunlight. It glittered— a sheen of gossamer light running along its length and shimmering with each and every supple movement of the fabric. The cut of it was traditional, the color an iridescent-pure white that reminded her almost uncomfortably of Zhihu’s robes. They weren’t the same as the Outer Disciple’s robes, sure, but… they were close. Close enough that there was a message written into each and every infinitesimal fiber of fabric woven together to make its broad length. That the Sect would have them wear this…

  She was under no illusions that it wasn’t the sect’s choice. The University of East Saffron and the sect were entangled at the best of times, and this was the most elite cohort of students, the very cream of the crop— the ones with potential. The ones who might, just maybe, be able to join the Bloody Saffron Sect in the future.

  Carefully, she kept her new uniform from dragging on the ground. “I’m going to have to go change into this… it shouldn’t take me long.” It wasn’t a full outfit like Zhihu’s was, with under-robes and all the other little accouterments of a proper cultivator; rather, it was more of an overcoat that could be draped over some clothes beneath it. Which was definitely good, because she’d probably die without a sufficient amount of pockets to keep her talismans in. Maybe even literally, if she got in a fight, however unlikely that might be…

  She slipped off to her room, changing into the uniform. Not that she’d not already been dressed fancily— she’d donned her best clothes for the event— but the uniform put them all to shame. She could feel it as it settled down onto her— a gentle pressure just a little more apparent than a simple robe should be, not entirely uncomfortable— not entirely natural. She wasn’t entirely sure how she was able to tell— it merely was. It touched her senses in that strange way that most spirit materials did, so subtly offputting, mystical…

  She considered doing some tests with a talisman, then quickly reconsidered. She’d be in so much trouble if she damaged her robe before initiation even started… shaking her head to clear it of the intrusive thoughts, she slipped out of her room and joined Avyr near the door.

  The cat’s uniform was… Lily would not call it lazy, but it was definitely lazy. Her uniform had been created with exacting precision, fitting her perfectly and conveying in its every cut and fold and lazy ripple a meaning— that the vast hand of the sect stretched out even to here. Especially to here.

  Avyr’s… not so much. Then again, he would’ve looked ridiculous dressed up in clothes; instead, the University had opted to give him a simple sash. It was made out of the same impossibly perfect silk her own was, but… a sash. Seriously, it could not have been more simple.

  The big cat had shuffled off most of his harness, leaving only a small pouch tied around his arm for the most important things. It was for the best, probably— it would have clashed horribly with the white silk sash… his gaze settled on her, and she gave a sheepish wave back. “I don’t look stupid, do I?”

  He cocked his head, considering for a second— before just blinking slowly. “I don’t think so. It’s always hard to tell. You look like Zhihu, so whatever Zhihu qualifies as, then you’re that.” Zhihu was imposing— though how much of that was the way she carried herself, the reputation of the sect, the burden of that all-surpassing power of hers… Lily did not know. She’d take it as a compliment regardless. “Do I look stupid?”

  Lily gave Avyr another quick glance-over. “I think you look as adorable as ever.”

  “I’m not…” he rolled his eyes, snorting out a short laugh. “Sure. Whatever. Let’s go.” They stepped out into the pleasant dawn—

  To the beginning of something truly magnificent.

  ………

  Behind the administrative pagoda, surrounded by a field of flowers and carefully sculpted landscapes, by billowing trees and weeping willows that carefully hid from sight the city around them and transformed the area into a strange wilderness in the city’s heart, there stood a vast and empty plane of cleverly fitted flagstones. On that vast and empty plane of rough stone, there stood a stage, thrust up from the ground like some temple to heaven, red pillars stark against blue sky, gold filigree curled into wrought relief of mythical beasts, immortals and fables and the thousandfold glories of the Bloody Saffron Sect— and lines of strange and swirling silver, reflecting so perfectly the empty sky and stone and flowers, and trees, and the pagoda that towered into the air behind them.

  The plane was not empty though. Students stood carefully at attention, without order but clearly aping to it— in careful rank and file slowly spilling out as each further student joined them. Lily could see it all clearly from her vantage about in the middle of it— the last few students were making their way over, while most everyone else was just waiting and wondering when it would start. They’d been waiting for hours, and though it was a pleasant day outside, none of them were quite enthusiastic about spending their entire day just standing around.

  Nevertheless, nobody spoke. A pressing silence hung over the small crowd— the unspoken, complete certainty that they would wait there for far, far longer than just a few hours if they had to, still stood in those stoic silences— none of them had made it this far by being weak of heart and faint of conviction.

  Lily passed the time by observing the area… and, maybe just a little, her future classmates too. So sue her, they were interesting. Most of them looked like the exact sort of thing she’d expect if she was told to think of what an arrogant young master would look like— which was to say, most of them looked like Xinshi— but there were a few exceptions. Some of them clearly didn’t carry themselves with the same sort of arrogant weight of presence that Xinshi did— though whether that was because they actually came from a less important family or because things were just different, she had no clue. Perhaps most interestingly was the trio of cats, sat up by the front next to the clearly formation-engraved stage. Whatever the formation on it was, though, she had no clue. It was far beyond her understanding…

  The sun blazed down directly above them, and— in the moment their shadows ate themselves and the whole courtyard was illuminated with the fierce light of East Saffron at noon— an monumentally enormous pressure crashed down on them. It was nothing like anything she’d ever felt before. Not from Xinshi, not from Avyr, not from Zhihu— it was a pressure that consumed the whole world and blotted out everything, that turned the very air she bled into a blood, and the blood into her body into a violent, terrifying beast only barely chained by the most meager shred of a will not her own—

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  In that brief moment of pressure, she was rendered well and truly aware that if He wanted her dead, then all he had to do was so will it, and her body would explode into so much fine mist.

  A tiny red speck spun into existence on the stage, rapidly expanding until it was a maelstrom spinning sphere of scarlet-deep blood, frothing furiously as it ground over itself. Then— with a rush of air and a burst of noiseless sound, it exploded outwards— and collapsed back in on itself, revealing a single small whose every feature seemed to have been sculpted out of the finest jade. Even that, though, was not the most notable feature about him—

  His robes were the deepest red she’d ever seen. Red, so red that it made the rest of the color seem weak in comparison— a red more bloody than blood. Adorned with a filigree of gold that seemed to float on top of the silk a shimmer over the deep… it was a chilling sight, a realization that stole her breath away and made her mind go blank with sheer, unadulterated awe.

  Before her stood an elder of the Bloody Saffron Sect. The next best thing to a god.

  He only stood alone on the stage for a few seconds before several formations of disciples swooped down on flying swords, dropping out of the air, but those seconds seemed to last forever. He barely moved his gaze, but Lily felt as though he was staring at her, specifically the entire time. Avyr’s hackles rose beside her, and she guessed she wasn’t alone in feeling that weighty attention.

  Finally, he spoke— and his voice was thunder, without any microphone or speaker or anything carried so powerfully through the air. “Phoenixes and dragons of East Saffron. The very greatest of your kind. The next generation.” A long, pregnant pause. “Amongst you, there is a chance that you— the most hardworking, the most studious, the greatest amongst you— will be selected for the unimaginable honor of joining the august ranks of the Bloody Saffron Sect. You think you understand the depth of honor that merely being given this opportunity is… but you are wrong. To merely stand here, to have earned the right to listen to this speech… you have been honored beyond mortal comprehension. The Bloody Saffron Sect extends to you the blessing of hope— the blessing of chance, that you might rise beyond what you once were and shuffle your tattered feathers and weary scales, and embrace the vast heavens above. Once, you were mortal.” He held out his hand— and with a pulse of qi and a distinctly familiar slight of hand, a pouch dropped out of thin air and into his hand. “No more.”

  He tossed the pouch into the air, and with a flash of blazing scarlet qi it exploded— a hundred trails of burning light shooting skyward and then homing down with impossible precision, one for each student standing before them. A wave of gasps and startled exclamations rippled through the crowd, but— before a single one could hit the ground— as each one reached their destination they were arrested by some unseen force, freezing a few feet off the ground still wreathed in sparkling vermillion fire.

  One came to her, and one came to Avyr, and despite the bright flame she could see what lay in the center of it. A droplet of pure blood, crushed and crystalized and transformed into an alchemical… pill. The faintest of gasps escaped her unbidden as she realized what was hovering in the air but scant inches in front of her. A pill gifted by an elder of the Bloody Saffron Sect— an awakening pill.

  A pill that would make her a cultivator.

  Gently, she reached out, her fingers brushing the edge of that spectral fire and feeling nothing. Hesitantly… it felt wrong. That it was just there, waiting for her to so much as reach out and grasp—

  She closed her fist around the pill, the fire snuffing out as though it had never been there won the first place. Not so much as a quiet whisper of heat… just the cool, slightly glossy texture of the pill against her skin and the strange prickling feeling of a powerful spiritual material. It didn’t even release a fragrance or anything— it was just… there. A tiny little pebble that could put her on the path to divinity in the palm of her hand.

  Beside her, Avyr grabbed the pill that’d been allotted to him, slipping it into his small pouch. It was less important for him, given that he was already a cultivator, but still… regardless of its use, it was still a nearly unparalleled treasure. That chance… it had not come easily, she realized. They had worked themselves to the bone to pursue a chance of that chance, and now… it was finally theirs, and the expectations all the greater.

  “The Sects of our realm have long held traditions, amongst the most inviolate of which are the pursuit of greatness. Yet, it is not the greatness of the elders on which the sect rests its hopes. Not even those rare few who have ascended as immortals to the heavenly spheres, and which yet leave their lasting blessings upon us— no, the hope of a sect is in its future, and the future of a sect is in its next generation. You are the next generation. One day, you might even be part of the sect.” The elder folded his hands behind his back. “The University of East Saffron was the first of its kind on Aurelia, and the greatest of its kind anywhere in the entire realm besides Catatapharus.

  “I suspect most of you fail to understand what that means. There is a good chance many of you never will. I’ve found, as the years slip me by, that even some of the true disciples of the Bloody Saffron Sect are unable to grasp it. They— you— have grown up in this world of rampant interconnectivity, of luxury and largess and bounty like never before seen in the entire history of mankind. The realm has become small to you— but you cannot comprehend how vast it truly is. For all the diversity Aurelia holds, for all its exalted position… we are one amongst untold dozens. You do not understand what that means. Thousands on thousands, each striving the same as you do— yet you were selected as the best amongst all of them. You, alone, the hundred of you arrayed before me, are those the Bloody Saffron Sect selected as the greatest amongst all mankind. And amongst your number, a few of you might join the Bloody Saffron Sect itself.

  His gaze settled on them, a heavy thing for a single, eternal breath. “Remember that. Do not squander your potential. Yours is the burden of greatness.” For a long moment, there was an almost palpable stillness, reverence, amongst the cohort standing around her. Before anyone could more than so much as breathe, though, the outer elder continued. “In many ways, your enrollment here in the University of East Saffron will reflect what life is like in the sect. By and large, you will be given near complete freedom in your actions. Attendance at lectures and class material is not mandatory— though it is highly recommended— and you will not be babied through your courses— the examinations at the end of each course-unit will form the main basis for your evaluation. The only mandatory portion of your time here is your weekly meetings with your Liaisons.”

  The outer elder waved a hand to the disciples who’d landed behind him— most of which were wearing the white robes of the outer sect, though Lily could pick out a few that were wearing the same blue inner disciple robes Suli had. “These will be your liaisons over the course of the semester, and will form a critical part of your education as a new cultivator. To you—” his gaze swept over the crowd, for a moment burningly intense— “they will be the next best thing to your master, so you will treat them with respect. Once weekly, you will meet for an amount of time to be specified by your liaison, who has sweeping powers in pursuit of guiding you towards the proper dignity and capability all cultivators who wish to join the Bloody Saffron Sect should be able to employ. I will not expound on this more than necessary, but— listen to your liaisons. They hold all the keys to your success, and several more besides.

  “Additionally, throughout the year of your evaluation at the University, you will have a plethora of opportunities to earn contribution. Your contribution points will be tracked and managed by the University’s grand formation; your liaisons will explain the system to you in more depth if it ever becomes relevant. I encourage you not to underestimate the resources that even these much-diminished points could secure you— from rare resources, to cultivation aids and level-appropriate technique manuals, to even personal tutorial time with core disciples and masters of the Sect.” The entire crowd was fired up with the promise of rewards, eyes alight at the promise of it— Lily no less than any other, and definitely more than most. Direct tutoring from a true master of formations… where else would she be able to get that level of teaching? It was practically a dream come true.

  The outer elder did nothing so vulgar as smile at them, or offer them words of encouragement, or anything of the sort… but for all he so sternly fixed them beneath the eagle-eye of his gaze, arms crossed, imperious— she could feel it. “The future is yours—” in his aura, wrapped around them, pressuring them but more so empowering them— filling her with a suffusing energy, and vibrancy that thrummed in her veins and made her heart thunder with excitement— “and the Bloody Saffron Sect watches with great interest. May fortune favor you all.” And then— with a vast, apocalyptic pulse of qi that squeezed her chest and tainted the entire atmosphere around the, bloody— a sphere of swirling scarlet erupted out from the elder’s form, and when it collapsed inwards onto itself—

  The elder of the Bloody Saffron Sect was gone.

  finally become a cultivator for realsies!

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